A Scoutmaster's Blog

One of the things that makes the Boy Scout program different from many youth programs is that the boys plan their own program. The junior leadership of a troop meets once a year to plan themes, activities, and dates for the next twelve months. They meet once a month to fill in the activity details and plan the meetings. The Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 have done this for the last thirty years. The troop leadership usually meets in August, but scheduling conflicts came up this year and the planning session was moved back to October. Once the Scouts have planned their agenda it is presented to the troop committee for final approval.

Here is the Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 schedule for the 2011-2012 program year:

The theme for October was water safety and citizenship. The Scouts worked on various requirements for their First Class Rank. The activity for the month was the district fall camporee which was held at Camp Stearns, near Fairhaven, Minnesota.

First aid will be the meeting theme for November. The troop is planning to brings in guests to teach the Scouts some first aid skills. The month’s activity will be the LPMRB, a troop tradition. This outing includes spending the day having fun while rollerskating, going out for pizza, going to a movie, and finishing with late night bowling.

The Scouts chose a new theme for December: movie watching. They are going to be learning about how movies are made and how some of the special effects are done. The activity will be the annual Christmas party which will include a gift exchange. The last court of honor for the year will be held on Monday, the 19th.

January’s theme is winter first aid and safety, which may come in handy when the Scouts go snow tubing for their activity. The district is also planning a merit badge midway to be held this month.

During the troop meetings in February the boys will be learning about firearm and archery safety. February is also the month in which we will be celebrating the 101st anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. The troop will be spending a weekend at Camp Stearns, having fun playing broomball, disc golf, and sledding on the camp’s great sledding hill.

The theme for March is Family Life, which is an Eagle required merit badge. The troop’s first court of honor of the year will be held, recognizing the Boy Scouts for achievements earned. A trip to the Waterpark of America is planned, with a side stop to the Mall of America.

The troop will hold its own version of the olympics during the April troop meetings. The Scenic district will hold a merit badge clinic this month. The troop will hold its spring fundraiser before Easter. April’s activity will be the overnighter with loads of activities, movies, and snacks.

Historical places will be the theme for May. A weekend trip to Camp Watchamagumee is planned. This has always been one of the troop’s favorite activities. Order of the Arrow members will meet for a weekend conclave at Parker Scout Reservation near Brainerd.

Hiking is June’s theme. Hiking is also a suggested merit badge for Boy Scouts to earn on their way to becoming an Eagle Scout. A weekend camping trip at Kings Lake is the outing. The summer court of honor will be held at the end of the month.

The main camping event of the year will be held in July when the Boy Scouts spend a week at Many Point Scout Camp, which is located northwest of Park Rapids. In addition to earning various merit badges the Scouts will have the chance to swim, canoe, try a sauna, climb a tower, go sailboating, experience life as a lumberjack, learn about nature, and much more.

August is the last month of the program year. Canoeing is the theme with a weekend canoe trip as the highlight. This will also be the month the patrol leader council meets to plan for the next program year.

The Cub Scouts of Pack 68 met on Thursday, October 27, for some Halloween fun. The cubmaster and committee had brought plenty of paints and pumpkins so that each Scout had one to decorate. Once the boys were done painting the orange gourds they moved on to decorating cookies for the holiday. While most of the pumpkins made it home to sit on a front porch, many of the cookies did not survive long enough to leave the building. I guess the Cub Scouts must have worked up an appetite.

It is time. After 30 years of serving as the scoutmaster of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 I have decided to step down and let someone else assume the role. My last day as the adult leader of the troop will be December 31, 2011. I have had some great times and awesome experiences during those three decades, but it was not always a bed of roses. There were four times I tried to quit, when the frustrations became so intolerable that I just could not handle it anymore. But after a few good nights sleep everything seemed to be a little better so I stayed on.

I still remember that evening in September 1981 when the troop committee appointed this young twenty one year old kid to the position of scoutmaster. I was shocked. I really did not see it coming. I was a little overwhelmed. I accepted the appointment and vowed to do my best for the troop. I took all the training offered by the district and council. I went to roundtables every month. I attended a weeklong scoutmaster training course at Philmont Scout Ranch in 1984. I wanted to be the best scoutmaster that I was capable of being.

As I step down from the position I never dreamed of holding for this long, I have to say that I will not be walking away from the Scouting program. As the first day of the new year arrives I will become a member of the troop committee. I will continue to be a merit badge councilor for eight awards. I do plan to assist the new scoutmaster as he or she prepares to assume their role in the troop. I still plan to attend some of the troop’s activities and outings.

Of course, I have mixed feeling about leaving the role I have held for sixty percent of my life, and nearly all of my adult life. I will miss sitting around the campfire on cool Minnesota evenings. I will miss working closely with Eymard, my assistant for 23 years. But most of all, I will miss working closely with the boys. The boys were my second family. They were and always will be the number one reason for remaining as the scoutmaster for as long as I have.

I do look forward to beginning a new phase of my Scouting career even though I am not quite sure what that will include. I do look forward to having Monday nights free and more weekends available to spend with family and friends. I look forward to having my very first summer vacation away from a Boy Scout camp. (Yes, I have spent every summer vacation of the past thirty one years with Boy Scouts at summer camp, Philmont Scout Ranch, or some other high adventure trip.)

I will not be able to give up Scouting completely. It has been a part of my life for too long. Lem Siddons was a scoutmaster for twenty years before he was retired by his troop. I would rather the idea to retire be mine, and not the committee’s. Reaching the twenty mark kinda became a goal of mine after watching Follow Me Boys in 1984. I never actually thought I would achieve it, but now I can say I not only achieved it but surpassed it by fifty percent. How do you like them apples Lem?

I am sure you have already had the conversation in your troop. How can we be more “green” and eco-friendly? The Boy Scouts have been discussing this long before it became socially fashionable. Take a look at Leave No Trace, for example. Or the points of the Outdoor Code.

I recently received and email featuring a story about the generational differences of being green. I am sure this has been circulating about the internet for awhile already, but it was the first time I had seen it. I enjoyed reading it so I thought I would share it with you. I may even use this as a scoutmaster minute at the end of a troop meeting.

(Unfortunately, I do not know the author of this story.)

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.” The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”

She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right. We didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks
were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Once upon a time, there were two Cub Scout leaders who were creating online audio shows called podcasts. Chris hosted a show called An Hour A Week. Bob hosted a show with his Cub Scout son called Akela’s Adventure. Together, they created a third show named The Leaders Campfire. These three productions were combined to form an online network that became known as PTC Media, found at http://www.ptcmedia.net .

In April of 2007, I began a video podcast featuring the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 doing songs and skits. Some videos included footage from their outings. I named the podcast Melrose Scouting Productions.

During the fall of 2007, Bob and Chris began talks with me to add my podcast to the PTC Media network. They enjoyed the videos and thought the podcast would be a good addition to their site. On October 5, 2007, Melrose Scouting Productions joined the network of Scouting related podcasts.

It has been a fun four years. I have met dozens of online Scout Leaders through the network and made many Scouting friends. My role at PTC Media has increased. I am now a cohost of The Leaders Campfire and occasionally produce another podcast named Around The Scouting Campfire.

It has been great working with Cubmaster Chris and the other hosts of PTC Media shows: Jerry, Shawn, Liberty, Emily, and Shannon. They are a dedicated group of Scouters and good friends. It has been a pleasure sharing stories and experiences with them.

It will be interesting to watch PTC Media grow and change in the future. The network already hosts eight shows. A ninth about Venturing will soon be added. I am proud to include Melrose Scouting Productions as one part of the quality shows at PTC Media.

Ever since I was a child I have enjoyed puppets. One year for Christmas my parents gave me a Howdy Doody ventriloquist doll. I was a big fan of the Muppet Show. I enjoy watching Jeff Dunham and his pals.

During the last few years I have made several videos featuring a puppet call Buttons, the radical Boy Scout. Buttons has talked about the Scout Oath, the Scout Law, and being physically fit. He also loves a good joke or two. While there are over a dozen videos featuring Buttons, he is not the first puppet to star in a video of mine.

In the late 1980’s, I was taping courts of honor and troop activities for Mel-TV, our local cable access television station. Some of the Boy Scouts would act in a few of the original short films I created. One of those movies was The Puppets Must Die, which involved puppets coming to life to kill people. It was like a Twilight Zone episode. Two Boy Scouts played the main roles in the film. The climax was to be a battle between the good puppet and the evil puppet.

Unfortunately, we were only able to film the first half of the movie before we ran out of time and life got in the way. Only one puppet’s scenes were filmed. A third Boy Scout acted as our puppeteer. I thought he did an excellent job of bringing Gruber to life. Some of tricks we learned while filming The Puppets Must Die were later used during the videos featuring Buttons twenty years later.

I recently posted The Puppets Must Die to our troop’s website. If you would like to view our first experiment in puppet entertainment check out http://www.melrosetroop68.org/videopuppets.html .

Sorry, but there are no plans to finish this film.